How to Build a Streetcar That Works

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CreditThomas Colligan

By Yonah Freemark

Feb. 10, 2016

SIXTY years ago, the last trolley jangled down the streets of Brooklyn, the end of an era for what was once the most common mode of transportation for urban Americans. Now streetcars are making a comeback nationwide. In the past decade, new lines have started running in eight cities; nearly a dozen more will be under construction this year.

But experience shows that this project’s success depends on more than just a pair of tracks and new trolley cars. A streetcar line that actually improves quality of life for New Yorkers must be fast, frequent and reliable — all of which require redirecting street space away from private automobiles and toward public transit.

In most American cities with streetcars, success has been limited by faulty design. Forced to share lanes with automobiles, the streetcars get held up in traffic. Unable to maneuver out of their tracks, unlike nimbler buses, they get stuck behind stopped cars or delivery trucks.

Atlanta’s experience is instructive. Caught in the same congestion as the city’s drivers, its streetcar suffers from miserable speeds (less than 10 miles an hour on average) and terrible reliability. As a result, it has struggled to attract riders; the system carries only about 2,000 passengers a day — as many as just one rush-hour subway train in New York. While smoother and more comfortable, it is slower than run-of-the-mill buses, which means people whose bus route was replaced by the streetcar are spending more time on their commutes.

The faster and more dependable a streetcar line, the more time it will save riders, and the more likely people will choose it rather than polluting, expensive and congestion-producing options like personal automobiles or Uber. Given that New Yorkers already suffer through some of the nation’s longest commutes, a problem particularly severe for residents of low-income neighborhoods, speeding up transit times should be a priority for the de Blasio administration.

New York needs a different kind of streetcar. The current plan does not include dedicated lanes, which are needed to keep trams going. The Paris region’s roughly 65-mile streetcar system, mostly completed over the past decade, shows how appealing quick-moving streetcars can be. Carefully chosen routes with very frequent arrivals and reliable service connect areas that previously had poor transit service. The trams save time, so riders make over 900,000 trips each day — far more than on the 117-mile Washington Metro train network, for example.

Other practices can also effectively reduce travel times for streetcar users. At intersections, stoplights should automatically turn green (or be prevented from turning red) when trams approach.

Just as important, New York should limit the number of streetcar stations. Portland, Ore., is eliminating stops along a streetcar line to quicken service, allowing trains to spend more time moving and less time picking up riders.

Thankfully, New York already has a model for such strategies. Select Bus Service, which Mayor de Blasio has worked to expand, has dedicated lanes, priority at signals and limited stops to speed nine routes operating in all five boroughs. Increased speeds have pulled in more riders and reduced commute times for thousands.

Fast transit can play an important role in reducing inequities. The commutes of New Yorkers vary greatly based on where they live, and residents of poor neighborhoods are about 40 percent more likely to have long commutes than their wealthy counterparts. Their limited access to jobs and other opportunities reinforces their already-diminished economic condition.

It is just as vital to get the streetcar’s route right. Rather than connecting to existing subway stations in places like Sunset Park, Gowanus and Williamsburg, the streetcar as now designed would force riders to walk several blocks to transfer. To reduce travel times, the streetcar must make those connections. Similarly, passengers should be provided free transfers from buses and the subway to the streetcar to encourage riders to incorporate it into their trips.

Finally, development policies should support the use of the streetcar. In many neighborhoods along the planned route, zoning law severely restricts the scale of buildings allowed (and therefore potential riders) and requires developments to include a significant number of parking spaces (which in turn encourages driving).

Chicago has begun a smart strategy to promote the right kind of development near transit: A 2015 zoning reform increases allowed building size and reduces the number of mandated parking spaces. Without a similar change, New York’s streetcar will be hobbled by neighborhoods not designed for transit.

It won’t be easy to construct a streetcar worth the money needed to build it. Dedicated lanes and other actions that prioritize transit often run against opposition to reducing space available to cars. People who hold fast to a car-dominated city fight increasing density and reducing parking requirements.

But taking a stand in favor of these measures is vital; without them, the streetcar will be too slow to provide improved transportation for the people who need it, and it will attract too few riders to justify its construction. Devoting more room on our streets to the streetcar and, just as important, to buses, is a policy Mayor de Blasio, and other municipal leaders, would do well to champion.